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sweeping

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Etymology

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By surface analysis, sweep +‎ -ing.

Pronunciation

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Verb

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sweeping

  1. present participle and gerund of sweep

Noun

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sweeping (countable and uncountable, plural sweepings)

  1. (countable) An instance of sweeping.
    The sidewalk needed a sweeping every morning.
  2. (uncountable) The activity of sweeping.
    Sweeping took all morning.
    The sidewalk needed sweeping every morning.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Adjective

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sweeping (comparative more sweeping, superlative most sweeping)

  1. Wide, broad, affecting or touching upon many things.
    Synonyms: across-the-board, wide-ranging; see also Thesaurus:comprehensive, Thesaurus:generic
    The government will bring in sweeping changes to the income tax system.
    He loves making sweeping statements without the slightest evidence.
    • 1947 January and February, O. S. Nock, “"The Aberdonian" in Wartime”, in Railway Magazine, page 7:
      We steamed easily across the first part of the Tay Bridge, and then after passing over the long spans in mid-stream we coasted smoothly down the 1 in 114 gradient, and around the sweeping curve through Esplanade Station.
    • 2013 June 18, Simon Romero, “Protests Widen as Brazilians Chide Leaders”, in New York Times, retrieved 21 June 2013:
      By the time politicians in several cities backed down on Tuesday and announced that they would cut or consider reducing fares, the demonstrations had already morphed into a more sweeping social protest, with marchers waving banners carrying slogans like “The people have awakened.”
    • 2022 January 12, Nigel Harris, “Comment: Unhappy start to 2022”, in RAIL, number 948, page 3:
      The thing is, we've even had formal confirmation from Government itself that the crucial research required to make such sweeping claims hasn't been done!
  2. Completely overwhelming.
    He claimed a sweeping victory.
  3. Moving in a continuous motion, rather than by intermittent jumps. (For example, the second hand on a clock face may move either in the sweeping manner or in the ticking manner.)
    Coordinate term: ticking (adjective)

Collocations

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Translations

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Anagrams

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